Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Ravens and Steelers kick off the divisional round of the NFL playoffs today at 4:30 in Pittsburgh. Tomorrow, the Jets play the Patriots in the late game on CBS.

If I'm CBS, I'm putting the Steelers game at 4:30 on Sunday in case Steelers receiver Mike Wallace has a big game. What better way to lead into "60 Minutes?"

Unfortunately, the network symbolized by the eye logo didn't have that kind of vision. This kind of puts a different spin on my favorite sports weekend of the year.

With four games, two on Saturday and two on Sunday, it's the last NFL weekend of wall-to-wall football. Every team playing is Super Bowl-caliber. With the notable exception of the Seahawks this season, the riff-raff is usually weeded out on wild-card weekend. That makes for four intriguing matchups.

Two years ago, before they drafted the younger, faster version of the "60 Minutes" anchor, the Steelers played the late Sunday game. So the first three games of divisional playoff weekend served as a dramatic buildup to the Steelers game.

This year, the tone of the weekend will depend on the outcome of the Ravens-Steelers game.

If the Steelers win, I'll watch tonight's Packers-Falcons game if I'm not too drunk. Then tomorrow, I'll watch Seahawks-Bears only because it's such a snoozer it seems like a good game to watch hung over. Then I'll meticulously scout the Jets-Patriots game and have a report on Mike Tomlin's desk Monday morning.